Pastors DeskProvocative Study Of the Bible

Ephesians 4 - Maintaining the Unity of the Spirit

“One” jumps out very early in this chapter: one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God.

Emphasis here is laid on the church’s unity. All Believers are members together of one body. Each of us is linked to Christ and one another. In fact most of the “you” in the New Testament are in plural form. Collective you - for the whole body.

This oneness is a truth we must accept as it is critical to our personal growth and fulfilment.

Not everyone could stand the tensions differences cause. Some in the early church insisted that unity could come only from sameness. But Paul affirms the right to be different.

Do I let differences cut me off from fellowship with my brothers, or from organisational expressions of our unity?

As a charismatic do I reject the brother who doesn’t pray in tongues?

Do I as a dispensationalist draw back from the covenant theologian?

Do I hear someone ask, “I can accept and ignore many differences. But what about differences in doctrine? What about the person who claims to have the divine life, but whose beliefs differ from mine?”

Sometime in the 1960s when Nnamdi Azikwe (Nigeria’s first (ceremonial) president) met with Ahmadu Bello (premier of the northern region) and said, “Let us forget our differencesâ€¦.”, Bello replied, “No, let us understand our differences. By understanding our differences, we can build unity in our country.”

I concur. By understanding our differences, we can “keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (verse 3)